Schools consider impact of ending vaccination opt-outs

June 30, 2015

June 30, 2015

Updated June 30, 9:15 a.m.:Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Tuesday the bill eliminating the personal belief exemption for vaccinating schoolchildren. In his signing message, Brown wrote, “The science is clear that vaccines dramatically protect children against a number of infectious and dangerous diseases.”

He continued, “While it’s true that no medical intervention is without risk, the evidence shows that immunization powerfully benefits and protects the community.”

In the pockets of California where hundreds and even thousands of kindergartners are not fully vaccinated, school districts are starting to think seriously about how a proposed law requiring vaccinations – which the Legislature approved Thursday – could affect their enrollment and in turn, their funding.

The proposed law, Senate Bill 277, would end the state’s personal belief exemption for vaccinating schoolchildren, an opt-out practice that in a small number of schools and communities has become widespread. More than 13,500 California schoolchildren held a personal belief exemption in 2014-15, a relatively low number compared to the state’s overall kindergarten enrollment of more than 500,000, but a figure of public health and financial importance in some districts.

The bill, co-authored by Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, and Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, passed the Senate May 14; the Assembly passed it Thursday. It will return to the Senate for approval of minor changes before heading to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown.

“If it really does happen, it’s going to be wild up here,” said Sharyn Turner, coordinator of school health services at the Nevada County Office of Education.

If Brown signs the bill, parents will have three options for their kindergartners starting in fall 2016: obtain a medical exemption to vaccinations, enroll in homeschooling or independent study, or vaccinate.

“The school would be put in the position of saying, ‘I’m sorry. If you don’t provide the records, you are not going to be able to attend school,’ ” said Catherine Flores Martin, director of the California Immunization Coalition.

The law would apply to students in public schools, including charter schools, and private schools from transitional kindergarten through 12th grade. In addition, the law would require children in family day care, child care centers and preschools to be immunized. Students who hold a personal belief exemption before Jan. 1, 2016 will not have to provide proof of immunization until they move from preschool to transitional kindergarten or kindergarten or from 6th grade to 7th or if they change schools. The immunization requirement for entering 7th grade is the pertussis, or whooping cough, vaccination.

Perhaps no where would the choice be more pronounced than at the more than 40 Waldorf schools in the state, where students follow a pedagogy that emphasizes hands-on learning through art and movement and many families are like-minded in their refusal to fully vaccinate their children. Roughly half of the Waldorf schools in California are public charter schools and, like district public schools, are funded by the federal government and the state based on how many students are enrolled, known as average daily attendance. If those schools lost enrollment, their authorizing districts would lose funding.

At the Yuba River Charter School, a public Waldorf school in Nevada City, for instance, 70 percent of kindergartners in 2014-15 held personal belief exemptions to vaccinations. Those students wouldn’t be affected by the law until they reach 7th grade immunization requirements, but if their siblings or other families have the same aversion to vaccinations, it’s unknown how many would choose to leave the public school system and opt for homeschooling, said Sharyn Turner, coordinator of school health services at the Nevada County Office of Education.

Overall, Nevada County has the highest vaccine refusal rate in the state – 20 percent of kindergartners hold personal belief exemptions. The county’s student enrollment is 12,000, and if 20 percent decided to leave the school system, that would make a dent in an area that has faced declining enrollment, Turner said. And a change in the law would upend a way of life in a community of alternative medicine practitioners and ardent opponents to vaccination requirements.

“If it really does happen, it’s going to be wild up here,” Turner said.

“What we’ve heard from faculty and staff is that parents are in a big uproar,” said David Owen-Cruise, leader of administration for the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, which represents private Waldorf schools.

“There are some folks in California that think we’re going to end up having to close the schools there, because there won’t be anyone enrolled,” he said. He added, “We don’t know what the outcome is going to be.”

If personal belief exemptions are eliminated, some families in Orange County — a region with schools such as the charter Journey School that have higher than average personal belief exemptions — may choose to enroll in a homeschooling program operated by the county office of education, the Community Home Education Program, said Dr. Marc Lerner, medical officer for the Orange County Office of Education.

Many counties offer similar independent study programs, and they appear to be exempt from the vaccination requirements under the bill as written, but the Orange County Office of Education would need to confirm that, Lerner said. If independent study programs run by counties and districts are an option for unvaccinated students, “districts would still capture ADA (Average Daily Attendance)” funding, he said.

Teresa Fitzpatrick, president of the California Homeschool Network, said she was surprised that the organization had received in the last month only 10 phone calls from parents considering homeschooling their children in the event that personal belief exemptions are eliminated.

“The thing about homeschooling is it’s a huge commitment,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s not a practical option for a lot of people.”

Mary Jane Burke, Marin County superintendent of schools, said she didn’t expect a change in public school enrollment, if the bill becomes law, and is continuing a public education campaign about vaccinations. “The decision to homeschool could potentially be more difficult to make than the decision to immunize their child,” Burke said.

Comments Policy

M. Gabrielle1 year ago1 year ago

Educated and informed people will never choose a public school education over the health of their children. Who wants their children cooped up in a stuffy room for 6 hours, packed to the brim with a stressed-out teacher who will punish you for any reason, even if you have to use the bathroom? I will happily move to another state or out of the country before I allow monkey kidney cells (polio vaccine), calf serum … Read More

Educated and informed people will never choose a public school education over the health of their children. Who wants their children cooped up in a stuffy room for 6 hours, packed to the brim with a stressed-out teacher who will punish you for any reason, even if you have to use the bathroom? I will happily move to another state or out of the country before I allow monkey kidney cells (polio vaccine), calf serum or bovine extract (D-Tap-HepB-IPV), canine kidney cell proteins (influenza vaccine) or any other animal parts or other toxic chemicals like mercury, aluminum or formaldehyde to be injected inside my children. It’s so crazy that they have really influenced millions of people that this crap is really safe – this legal soup of toxic waste, injected directly into our blood streams. We all have to insist on knowing what we are putting into our bodies –even you pro-vaxxers.

I have to tell you…when I compare my children to some of the kids who are vaccinated…it’s a really sad thing to see. My children are sharp as a tack, present, intelligent, great sense of humor, quick learners… But most of these vaccinated kids in kinder that I see when I had my daughter in preschool, speak like the “special needs” children, as if they are having neurological issues. I ask the parents, so I know if they’ve vaccinated their children or not.

You will see a lot of people in denial about this but I ask those people to go out and go get all of those vaccinations they are recommending and then come back and tell me if they feel fine. Let us know if you get healthier.

Also, my unvaccinated children never get sick until they get around other kids or go to school.

Lionel2 years ago2 years ago

There’s always a silver lining. At least this draconian rule will increase the amount of kids being homeschooled and kept away from the prisons we call public schools!

Gary Ravani2 years ago2 years ago

Good point! And one of the other unforeseen [sic] consequences of having kids vaccinated will be far fewer kids suffering needlessly form easily preventable diseases too.

Joan Edelstein2 years ago2 years ago

This article could use some clarification. We have been telling parents/guardians for decades that their students cannot attend school without documentation of immunizations. That is not something new as a result of SB277. The difference, as of July 2016, is we will no longer be accepting Personal Belief Exemptions, only medical exemptions.

Beverly Allor2 years ago2 years ago

The government just dismisses most adverse reaction injuries and deaths as coincidence. I think all the government employees and their children need to be the guinea pigs for the current vaccine schedule and all the vaccines in the pipeline.
Did you know that the CDC currently recommends 49 doses of 14 vaccines before the age of 6...starting with Hep B on the day of birth? Plus, more before the age of 18. If we are … Read More

The government just dismisses most adverse reaction injuries and deaths as coincidence. I think all the government employees and their children need to be the guinea pigs for the current vaccine schedule and all the vaccines in the pipeline.

Did you know that the CDC currently recommends 49 doses of 14 vaccines before the age of 6…starting with Hep B on the day of birth? Plus, more before the age of 18. If we are forced to get all of these for our children and unable to get exemptions for medical, religious, or philosophical reasons, then we will also be forced to receive every new vaccines that is in the pipeline as we speak. This year, more than 100 bills have been introduced in almost every state to severely restrict or completely eliminated vaccine exemptions. In addition, they have established adult vaccine guidelines that will take away our civil liberties and human rights as well. Just like some who smoke get lung cancer, so, too, some who get vaccines get adverse reactions. One size does not fit all, especially when it comes to multiple vaccines for infants. These decisions should remain in the hands of the parents and their doctors, not the government.

Check the CDC website for graphs of all the vaccines recommended and how often, so much more than even 20 years ago and three times more than my kids received.
If you are against forced medical procedures like vaccines, contact your state legislators and say no!

Andrew2 years ago2 years ago

The pro-vaxxer and anti-vaxxer camps both have cause for valid scientific concerns. That is my perspective as a parent whose kids were all homeschooled K-12, but by no means an anti-vaxxer.
First, for those who would dismiss all concern over vaccine safety as entirely unscientific and unwarranted, I would pose some issues and invite your responses.
Human immunology involves extraordinarily complex science, a huge amount of which remains unknown. Human immunity breaks down into two categories, … Read More

The pro-vaxxer and anti-vaxxer camps both have cause for valid scientific concerns. That is my perspective as a parent whose kids were all homeschooled K-12, but by no means an anti-vaxxer.

First, for those who would dismiss all concern over vaccine safety as entirely unscientific and unwarranted, I would pose some issues and invite your responses.

Human immunology involves extraordinarily complex science, a huge amount of which remains unknown. Human immunity breaks down into two categories, innate immunity and adaptive immunity. All humans are pre-programmed from the start to mount immune responses to the same roughly 3,000 substances, and this is innate immunity. Humans are capable of being programmed during their lifetimes to react to additional substances, and this is referred to as adaptive immunity. One academic expert estimates that human adaptive immunity is capable of being programmed 100 billion different ways.

Some adaptive immune responses are desirable, such as immunity against smallpox. Some are undesirable, such as hay fever allergies to pollen, or asthma, or autoimmunity such as multiple sclerosis.

One of the jobs of the human immune system is to distinguish human “self”, things that belong, from potential foreign invaders, “antigens” and to attack and destroy the latter based on molecular patterns they present. Autoimmunity, autoimmune disease, results where the immune system is somehow wrongly programmed to attack “self” by perceiving some part of self as a foreign invader.

As the science of immunology progresses, more and more human disorders are known or at least suspected to have an autoimmune component, including autism and ADHD.

In addition to antigens, substances known as “adjuvants” sometimes play a role in the development of adaptive immunity. Adjuvants are substances that increase or amplify the body’s immune response to antigens. By way of analogy, if the interplay between the immune system and the antigen is a fire, an adjuvant is oxygen blown onto the fire to make it burn very strong and hot.

A vaccine at its simplest is an antigen presented to the human immune system in hopes of programming a specific adaptive immune response. For the sake of safety, the antigen is deactivated or weakened so as not to produce the full disease, while still displaying the proper pathogen associated molecular pattern to the immune system to program a response.

Some human vaccines also contain an adjuvant to amplify the response of the human immune system to the antigen presented in the vaccine. Not all vaccines contain adjuvants, though DPT, Hep A, Hep B, Hib, and HPV are examples of those that do. The CDC defines a vaccine adjuvant as “a substance that is added to a vaccine to increase the body’s immune response to the vaccine.” Only a couple of adjuvants are approved for use in vaccines, primarily aluminum salts. The CDC argues that aluminum salts have been used as adjuvants since the 1930’s, so inferentially they must be OK as they are so venerable.

The potential problem with aluminum salts or other adjuvants in vaccines is that the “stronger immune response” that they provoke is not limited to the antigen contained in the vaccine, but is generalized, and could conceivably result in any one of the 100 billion responses the human immune system is said to be capable of. In other words, the “stronger immune response” may result in unwanted immunity or autoimmunity. Indeed, the same aluminum salts that are used in some human vaccines are used experimentally in the lab in lab animals to provoke disease such as asthma, where it would not otherwise arise from mere exposure to antigens. See, e.g. American Journal of Pathology, 2009 Jan:174(1):3-13.

What happens if you take a child who is genetically or environmentally on the brink of developing any one of many immune or autoimmune disorders, and you inject that child with an adjuvant calculated in the words of the CDC to “increase the body’s immune response”? How do you identify which children are thus vulnerable? How many pediatricians will recognize their vulnerability in time and authorize an opt-out? There are definitely risks and concerns. See, e.g., the journal Lupus 2012 Feb 21(2)223-30, “Mechanisms of aluminum adjuvant toxicity and autoimmunity in pediatric populations.”

There is hope for the future that customized adjuvants will be developed that are specific in their activity, where they only create outsized immune reactions to specific antigens in the vaccine, and not unwanted reactions, but that day is not here yet. Valid scientific concerns remain and more will be seen in the future as the fledgling science develops. Meanwhile California has passed a monolithic law that the future may prove to be a poor fit for the unfolding science.

Now, in support of the pro-vaxxers, I am going to use a terrible analogy, one that may get me tarred and feathered, and I use it to illustrate some science only.

Feedlot cattle in crowded conditions have very high infection rates and as a result, are customarily fed prophylactic antibiotics to keep them alive. Pastured cattle in natural conditions with plenty of open space and room to roam do not need these prophylactic antibiotics as they have far less risk of infection and resulting death. It is the artificial circumstances of the feedlots and crowding that create the need for the antibiotic interventions.

If one looks to nature, to human evolution, to clans and tribes and hunter-gatherers, it is not natural or healthy to crowd hundreds or thousands of similar age children into the compounds we call schools. Many of us who have very successfully homeschooled in remote rural environments with lots of space and freedom have proved that such crowding and compounds are not necessary or desirable educationally. But to the extent we create artificially crowded and unhealthy environments, it may be necessary to provide one-size-fits all draconian public health requirements, including vaccinations for everything. The public health requirements sort of go with the territory. Pro-vaxxer parents whose kids are in such environments may be justified in not wanting their kids exposed to infection by anti-vaxxer parents’ kids.

Both camps have valid concerns and are operating out of love and concern for their children. For the anti-vaxxers, I’d suggest taking a careful and objective look at the science in peer reviewed academic journals as it is and as it develops. You may find that some vaccines are desirable and warranted with certain timing and circumstances. You may also find that you have many concerns which ultimately warrant homeschooling, of which the vaccine issue is only part, perhaps a small part.

Gary Ravani2 years ago2 years ago

You said: “The pro-vaxxer and anti-vaxxer camps both have cause for valid scientific concerns.”

The same is asserted in some quarters about Darwin and evolution, the “Big Bang,” the age of the Earth and Universe, Global Climate Change, etc., etc., etc.

And then there are the scientists.

Andrew2 years ago2 years ago

And some of those scientists end up being the "opponents" physicist Max Planck wrote about in his famous cynical quote, "A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."
From the 1950's until a few years ago, the supposed medical science on diet was to avoid fat, avoid saturated fat, and … Read More

And some of those scientists end up being the “opponents” physicist Max Planck wrote about in his famous cynical quote, “A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”

From the 1950’s until a few years ago, the supposed medical science on diet was to avoid fat, avoid saturated fat, and avoid dietary cholesterol in order to avoid ill health, obesity and heart disease. Many followed that dogma and dutifully avoided dietary fats and filled their plates with grains and carbs, and those who were most susceptible are the ones who ended up unable to walk due to diabetic neuropathy, with diabetes related necrosis and amputations, and on kidney dialysis, and still beset with obesity and heart disease. Now the dogma is being reversed based on well designed and well controlled studies, showing little or no scientific support for the original dogma.

I am unimpressed with the state of science that dogmatically gets it so wrong for so long, and then flip flops. Flip flops on many, many issues, enough to fill pages. It doesn’t mean we ignore science. It just means we analyze it very critically and objectively and get it right. Which flip or flop of the science are you referring to when you mention “the science?”

Penelope2 years ago2 years ago

Thanks very much Andrew for your response. You made it very clear and concise. Can you please direct me to resources that discuss adaptive and innate immunity more indepth....in addition to general knowledge, I would like to learn more about how close to true immunity only getting a high antibody count is....please bear with me as I stumble through words...but in one study for instance I saw that even though the antibody count … Read More

Thanks very much Andrew for your response. You made it very clear and concise. Can you please direct me to resources that discuss adaptive and innate immunity more indepth….in addition to general knowledge, I would like to learn more about how close to true immunity only getting a high antibody count is….please bear with me as I stumble through words…but in one study for instance I saw that even though the antibody count was high this was not sufficient to prevent disease. I would also like to learn about the idea that we have been evolving our immunity over a very long period of time…and with some of these vaccines…introducing atypical forms of the disease and how this plays out..in that perhaps we have not had the same exposure? Do you know about this area at all? And out of curiosity what do you think about Pasteur vs Bechamp? Are you familiar with that? It seems like it is a bit of blend..ie exposure has something to do with outcome as does innate strength of individual…what are your thoughts? I did have to pause and consider if what you were asking was possible in that perhaps third world countries or poor sanitation areas, etc…or the average unhealthy person needs vaccines…but it still does not address the root in my mind…I just met a woman today from Nepal whose brother got polio from the vaccine, recently…similar to the 47.000 people in India…I have heard of other situations similar…but need to research this…on the other hand…with Leicester England…as well as Prussia..they dramatically truly got healthier with improved sanitation and nutrition…so personally, I always come back to this is the root…that we as a culture need to learn how to be truly healthy and robust enough o handle these diseases…and also Dr. moskowitz MD has some interesting ideas about how vaccines engage the immune system in a very different way and actually drive the illness deeper…and or due to waning qualities..move it to an older age with greater complication….Thanks so much David. resources would be great.

TheMorrigan2 years ago2 years ago

Your first link doesn’t actually support the anti-vax crowd. Sure, you can lift quotes and sections from it to support the anti-vax cause, but its conclusions and recommendations still firmly support vaccination or even more vaccination.

Why should I peruse the rest of the links when this one is only convenient to the anti-vax claims if it is butchered through a shredder? Is this how sincere and honest conversations start with you?

Penelope2 years ago2 years ago

Hi Morrigan....I read the abstract thoroughly and what I got from that with my background is that the conclusion states, "....Our data suggests that the current schedule of acellular pertussis vaccine doses is insufficient to prevent outbreaks of pertussis. We noted a markedly increased rate of disease from ages 8–12 years, proportionate to the interval since the last scheduled vaccine. Stable rates of testing ruled out selection bias. The possibility of earlier or more numerous … Read More

Hi Morrigan….I read the abstract thoroughly and what I got from that with my background is that the conclusion states, “….Our data suggests that the current schedule of acellular pertussis vaccine doses is insufficient to prevent outbreaks of pertussis. We noted a markedly increased rate of disease from ages 8–12 years, proportionate to the interval since the last scheduled vaccine. Stable rates of testing ruled out selection bias. The possibility of earlier or more numerous booster doses of acellular pertussis vaccine either as part of routine immunization or for outbreak control should be entertained. …..” More and more boosters for a high antibody count and calling that herd immunity is unacceptable when people like Suzanne Humphries are prescribing vit c to two months and they are getting closer to a life long immunity or at least much longer than 2-4 years and then another booster…when another study that I read said that each booster gives you a greater chance of getting pertussis and also more chance of side effects….again this is my opinion and it does support my opinion to not vaccinate….as I do not want to be dependent on a lifetime of boosters but through schooling have learned how to deal with even up to an including life threatening situations in a way that one truly gets stronger. If you are so easily put off, it probably is best not to continue as I said my opinion has evolved over 22 years…and I have had to read lots of studies that was quite laborious. Suprisingly, I am not here to change your opinion morrigan…I wanted to be aware of these things and I did change my mind from getting vaccines to not from this type of information….if it is not for you, its not….and I wish you true wellness and robustness, genuinely. Let’s keep it kind and respectful. take-care

Don2 years ago2 years ago

If you opt out and homeschool you will do far more to protect the life and well-being of your child by keeping her off the road than by any infinitesimally small benefit derived from avoidance of adverse vaccine reactions, assuming she doesn't die from acquiring a preventable disease. And the small chance of that happening is attributable to all the people who, unlike yourself, chose to get vaccinated and, by so doing, reduced your … Read More

If you opt out and homeschool you will do far more to protect the life and well-being of your child by keeping her off the road than by any infinitesimally small benefit derived from avoidance of adverse vaccine reactions, assuming she doesn’t die from acquiring a preventable disease. And the small chance of that happening is attributable to all the people who, unlike yourself, chose to get vaccinated and, by so doing, reduced your family’s chance of acquiring diseases which extinguished young lives in masse only a few decades ago.

Andrew2 years ago2 years ago

It is worthwhile taking a walk through an old cemetery, the part with graves from say 1850 to 1920. Half of them are children's graves. There aren't many children's graves added relatively in recent times. Some of this is due to general public health measures and some to vaccines triumphing over killer infections. Looking at the graves brings some of the reality and the gravity home.
A good and … Read More

It is worthwhile taking a walk through an old cemetery, the part with graves from say 1850 to 1920. Half of them are children’s graves. There aren’t many children’s graves added relatively in recent times. Some of this is due to general public health measures and some to vaccines triumphing over killer infections. Looking at the graves brings some of the reality and the gravity home.

A good and engaging book for homeschoolers to use and that aids in understanding of this past, though written in 1926, is “The Microbe Hunters” by microbiologist Paul de Kruif. A more recent book useful for homeschoolers to incorporate into their study of scientific method is “The Transformed Cell” by noted cancer researcher, Stephen Rosenberg, MD, PhD. The Rosenberg book was included our our own homeschooling study years ago and I was interested to see it still included on the excellent “must read” list for scientific understanding posted by physician Peter Attia MD on his blog site. Dr. Attia is an interesting guy, from an aspiring boxer to aerophysics/mathematics to a Stanford MD, a Johns Hopkins surgical residency, and now dismantling the erroneous nutritional dogma that held sway for so many decades.

I wonder, are there any anti-vaxxers who claim that vaccination is never warranted? Let them get bitten by a rabid animal. What would they do? Get vaccinated and live? Or don’t and die? That might be one extreme. The other might be getting repeatedly vaccinated for everything, maybe without regard to the cumulative impact.

TheMorrigan2 years ago2 years ago

“I wonder, are there any anti-vaxxers who claim that vaccination is never warranted?”

Mendelsohn comes fairly close with his polio comments.

navigio2 years ago2 years ago

It will get even more interesting when the home schooling exemption is removed.

Achsel2 years ago2 years ago

The amendment to allow children to use existing exemptions until Kindergaretn or 7th grade was an attempt to divide and conquer. They hope you all drop the issue at least until your kids hit the next check point, softening the dramatic impact this would have on schools and state coffers from drops in tax revenue.
If there is any way possible you should home school even if you could ride out your current exemption for … Read More

The amendment to allow children to use existing exemptions until Kindergaretn or 7th grade was an attempt to divide and conquer. They hope you all drop the issue at least until your kids hit the next check point, softening the dramatic impact this would have on schools and state coffers from drops in tax revenue.
If there is any way possible you should home school even if you could ride out your current exemption for a few years, otherwise you are letting the state off the hook and going along to get along with the new law.

And please be aware that if you use homeschool modules that come from your own local school, they will still get the state and federal monies for your child while you are homeschooling them AND losing income. DO NOT use the online modules from your child’s school if you want to protest this bill and have a much larger impact on the schools and state.

Everyone who opposes this bill should pull their kids from school, starting this fall if at all possible. Work together in your communities to offer help with homeschooling and educational opportunities. Do whatever possible to make this bill as painful as possible for the state. File a lawsuit NOW and if you cannot afford to, join in with other groups in class-action lawsuits. They are out there as many had alredy lawyered up before the bill passed. I hope California has some DEEP POCKETS because this is going to cost them millions and millions and millions of dollars, loss of jobs, and potentially the closing of many many schools.

Penelope2 years ago2 years ago

This is a very involved topic. Some may not realize that a medical waiver is next to impossible to get if you have a healthy child. SB 277 was only just recently amended to allow a sibling who may show a family predisposition to injury , the ability to be waived. So, for my son, who is 11...who has never been vaccinated, never had an antibiotic, and never even been to a pediatrician....the hopes of … Read More

This is a very involved topic. Some may not realize that a medical waiver is next to impossible to get if you have a healthy child. SB 277 was only just recently amended to allow a sibling who may show a family predisposition to injury , the ability to be waived. So, for my son, who is 11…who has never been vaccinated, never had an antibiotic, and never even been to a pediatrician….the hopes of him getting a medical waiver are extremely slim. We would also have to get a waiver for each and every vaccine waived. Some may feel that this is the way that it should be and that this will make it safer for people at public school. What they may not know is that mainstream scientific studies show that live viruses can shed. This is because when a live virus vaccine is used….one is literally injecting the live virus into the body….therefore those children can and have been shown to be capable of shedding and also transmitting the disease. Secondly, again as science shows, vaccines are waning and variable. They are variable in that their performance is not 100% guaranteed to all people. Secondly, what vaccines do, is create a high antibody reaction…this is not engaging the entire immune system, and some question this as being considered “immunity”, rather than simply a high antibody reaction. It has been shown that some with high titres still get the disease. Thirdly, these titers, wane with time….most surprisingly quickly…as with pertussis…it wanes between 2-4 years. hence the outcry for more and more boosters….now up into the college years….but I predict it will not stop there….and we can see this with adult immunization legislation for day care workers….Then we get to the fact with more and more boosters there is a greater risk of adverse reaction, which each vaccine has a good 1-3 paragraphs worth of, as can be seen on the pharmaceutical insert. So, when I have all of this to consider and at the same time I am reading that people such as Suzanne Humphries are prescribing vit c for pertussis…to two month olds….that measles when one knows how to work with a fever is quite benign if the child is health…as with mumps, rubella, chicken pox, etc…..and then the child gets true immunity. If you doubt this, read the words of Dr. Mendelsohn…a pediatrician for over 30 years….he states that most of these diseases are very benign….Our culture is to the point where we think that chicken pox is life threatening….it is life threatening if the child is very unhealthy…and also when fever reducers and steroids are prescribed.To me the answer is clear. People need to realize that it is incredibly common that when there is an outbreak, many of those people have been fully vaccinated….and many others have been partially vaccinated. People need to realize that there is mountains of science that shows this…mountains of studies that show a high risk of neurological damage, brain inflammation, the very disease vaccinated against….autoimmune disease, cancers, etc…On a smaller note, my son in all of his eleven yrs, unvaccinated has never gotten the flu…my niece and nephew, whose father is a physician, are vaccinated and are consistently at the doctors office…the entire family has had the flu multiple times…..This is a huge topic that truly needs years of study to get the magnitude. In regard to the homeschool option…how many have this luxury? I do choose to homeschool and it is a second job…if you are to do it dynamically…it is all encompassing. I have the freedom to have a job in which I can work part time…how many have this freedom? I hope that the powers that be realize that we are not going to simply begin vaccinating…..before people respond to this negatively, I ask that you read Dr. Russell Blaylock MDs opinion about herd immunity….I ask that you read Dr. Mendelsohn MD’s opinion about vaccination I ask that you read Viera Scheibner’s report on vaccines after reading 100,000 medical pages….She has in an unbiased manner devoted her life to the study of vaccination…and she says they are highly noxious….I ask that you give me the science that guarantees that my son will not be harmed and the science that shows that mercury, formaldehyde and aluminum are safe….I ask for you to prove to me that my son will be healthier from vaccination and that they will truly make him immune…..For if you do not answer these questions, and yet simply tell me that vaccines are safe and that they do not cause autism and that Wakefields paper has been retracted….I will understand that your knowledge on vaccination is quite limited. If you choose to vaccinate, so be it….but based on science, I will not.
I truly would love to be able to communicate with others about this. I realize that many truly feel that this will help their children. My frustration is not directed at these parents or even the medical body as much as frustrated at the general lack of science easily and readily available to the average person. I have evolved my opinion over 22 years…two schools on natural health…..and many years focusing on vaccination…..reading through the scientific abstracts over and over….and yet I have only begun to really learn about immunity. I hope that people, at the very least begin to realize the vastness of this topic…and truly set out to research this beyond the cdc and take the time to look up the studies and the inserts…we must make the time to get educated for it will not be presented to us. Thank-you for your time.

TheMorrigan2 years ago2 years ago

You son “has never been vaccinated, never had an antibiotic, and never even been to a pediatrician.”

Yet you want to have a serious conversation with us regular folk regarding the science behind this law? I do not believe this avenue of argument will open doors or minds for you.

penelope2 years ago2 years ago

Hi the Morrigan....I was raised in a very normal fashion...growing up going to the doctor regularly as well as having physicians in the family...It was not until I was 23 that I started dramatically changing and going to school to study nutrition and medical herbalism. Also, I have drawn the body of my information from medical doctors (suanne humphries m.d. russell blaylock md, dr. mendelsohn md, leonard horowitz md, etc, etc...and scientific studies from the … Read More

Hi the Morrigan….I was raised in a very normal fashion…growing up going to the doctor regularly as well as having physicians in the family…It was not until I was 23 that I started dramatically changing and going to school to study nutrition and medical herbalism. Also, I have drawn the body of my information from medical doctors (suanne humphries m.d. russell blaylock md, dr. mendelsohn md, leonard horowitz md, etc, etc…and scientific studies from the oxford journals, jama, new england journal of medicine, etc. Added to that I have studied natural health. I have had wonderful conversations with people of all backgrounds, and I do invite this dialogue. I am always curious what the regular folks think…especially about waning immunity, the need for a lifetime of boosters, pharmaceutical inserts and the idea of being robust enough to get the disease and have true immunity? What are your thoughts on those things? Thank-you Morrigan. all the best.

Christina Ciaccio2 years ago2 years ago

Hi Penelope,
I fully agree with your research and my daughter is about to start kindergarten this fall. I am having a hard time finding a home school program. Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you.

Hillary2 years ago2 years ago

If this bill passes I believe many families will be homeschooling. Ppl who either choose not vax or do so on a different schedule are choosing to go against the grain and also usually do so after much research. I doubt they are all going to be so easily coerced by the government and decide all of a sudden to vax. Personally I will homeschool my son which will be a huge financial burden considering … Read More

If this bill passes I believe many families will be homeschooling. Ppl who either choose not vax or do so on a different schedule are choosing to go against the grain and also usually do so after much research. I doubt they are all going to be so easily coerced by the government and decide all of a sudden to vax. Personally I will homeschool my son which will be a huge financial burden considering I own my own buisness. I will not let my son be a human science experiment. Unless there is better research done by an unbiased 3rd party that can tell me vaccines are safe and effective, including the current vaccine schedule….we will be homeschooling.

penelope2 years ago2 years ago

thanks for your courage Hillary...we do have great resources for homeschooling here....I have homeschooled for 5 years...and while it is a big commitment...my son is really benefitting from it. Legally, as it stands, you have to do 4 hrs per day of schooling....I feel that people can be creative with this time and when these hours are and when they are having playdates with others....for at this point play dates are not banned.I have and … Read More

thanks for your courage Hillary…we do have great resources for homeschooling here….I have homeschooled for 5 years…and while it is a big commitment…my son is really benefitting from it. Legally, as it stands, you have to do 4 hrs per day of schooling….I feel that people can be creative with this time and when these hours are and when they are having playdates with others….for at this point play dates are not banned.I have and will post excellent scientific studies and resources. all the best. also you are grandfathered in if you have a pbe on file by jan 2016 maybe even july 2016….until certain points of entry

Beverly Allor2 years ago2 years ago

Did you know that the CDC currently recommends 49 doses of 14 vaccines before the age of 6...starting with Hep B on the day of birth? Plus, more before the age of 18. If we are forced to get all of these for our children and unable to get exemptions for medical, religious, or philosophical reasons, then we will also be forced to receive every new vaccines that is in the pipeline as we speak. … Read More

Did you know that the CDC currently recommends 49 doses of 14 vaccines before the age of 6…starting with Hep B on the day of birth? Plus, more before the age of 18. If we are forced to get all of these for our children and unable to get exemptions for medical, religious, or philosophical reasons, then we will also be forced to receive every new vaccines that is in the pipeline as we speak. This year, more than 100 bills have been introduced in almost every state to severely restrict or completely eliminated vaccine exemptions. In addition, they have established adult vaccine guidelines that will take away our civil liberties and human rights as well. Just like some who smoke get lung cancer, so, too, some who get vaccines get adverse reactions. One size does not fit all, especially when it comes to multiple vaccines for infants. These decisions should remain in the hands of the parents and their doctors, not the government.
Even if you want to opt out of one or two vaccines, under sb277 your child will not be able to attend school.

Check the CDC website for graphs of all the vaccines recommended and how often, so much more than even 20 years ago.
If you are against forced medical procedures like vaccines, contact your state legislators and say no!

Barbara J. Flory, Ed.D.2 years ago2 years ago

Gov. Brown needs to veto this bill. What is wrong with our state legislators? The parents that have and will predominantly "opt-out" for personal belief are the highly-educated parents who care about their children's organic diet and do NOT want disease germs injected into their child. These are ALSO the same parents that are highly supportive of their children in the public schools and work with their children to be … Read More

Gov. Brown needs to veto this bill. What is wrong with our state legislators? The parents that have and will predominantly “opt-out” for personal belief are the highly-educated parents who care about their children’s organic diet and do NOT want disease germs injected into their child. These are ALSO the same parents that are highly supportive of their children in the public schools and work with their children to be successful in school, which often translates into their children achieving some of the highest test scores in the schools. If SB 277 forces ALL of these parents to withdraw from the public schools, their children’s high test scores will disappear with them. This bill would appear to be counterproductive in helping our public schools’ test scores.

Rick2 years ago2 years ago

Vaccines were never necessary and have only served to perpetuate these diseases. Look at the stats which clearly prove these diseases were on the decline prior to the first vaccine.

In fact, SCURVY, SCARLET FEVER and TYPHOID were on same downward trajectory as measles, but NEVER had a vaccine and they are gone.

Vaccinated kids are 5 times sicker than unvaccinated and unvaxed have zero autism.

Chloe2 years ago2 years ago

Actually unvax kids can be on the autistic spectrum also….
I have one at home… very high functioning…but still

That said, I am thankful everyday that we did not vaccinate him (or else I would always have wondered if it was the cause), we discovered he’s allergic to a lot of things too.

David Adams2 years ago2 years ago

For Gary Ravani: In America we are almost always taught, especially by public health officials (whose agencies, by the way, are private corporations), that vaccines have historically triumphed over so many childhood diseases, about the miracle of the polio and smallpox vaccines, and about the seeming scientific consensus that vaccines are safe and a clear benefit to the public. If you take a little time to conduct some independent research into the too-little-publicized facts … Read More

For Gary Ravani: In America we are almost always taught, especially by public health officials (whose agencies, by the way, are private corporations), that vaccines have historically triumphed over so many childhood diseases, about the miracle of the polio and smallpox vaccines, and about the seeming scientific consensus that vaccines are safe and a clear benefit to the public. If you take a little time to conduct some independent research into the too-little-publicized facts of so-called “vaccine science,” you will be shocked by what you find. For example, read “The Vaccine Safety Manual for Concerned Families and Health Practitioners” by Neil Miller, visit vaccineimpact.com, or vaxtruth.org, or parentsagainstmandatory vaccines.wikispaces.com, or watch the film “Silent Epidemic” on youtube.

Being skeptical about the efficacy and safety of vaccines is not being anti-scientific. The reported scientific basis of vaccination is, in fact, extremely weak. Do you know that there has never been a single scientific study published in any scientific journal using an unvaccinated “controlled/placebo group” that has demonstrated the efficacy and long-term benefit of any vaccine used in this country? Most of the (imperfect, usually “epidemiological”) studies that have been done have been financed and often closely controlled by the vaccine manufacturers themselves with cleverly manipulated design and results.

Most or all of the “improvement” in childhood diseases claimed by the vaccine industry and their well-paid public-health advocates had already taken place due to other causes before the relevant vaccines were even created. For example, National Morbidity Reports from the U.S. Public Health Reports show that from 1900 to 1965 (when the vaccine was introduced) measles deaths had already decreased by 99%. From 1900 to 1935 whooping cough (pertussis) deaths had already decreased by 82% before the vaccine was introduced in the 1940s.

Today a large portion of the existing cases of many of these diseases are caused by the vaccinated children (who shed the viruses for weeks after being vaccinated), not the unvaccinated. At the recent Disneyland measles “outbreak,” which has been so whipped up into fear by the media and bill proponents, 20% of those who caught it (from an unknown source) were vaccinated against measles, most (59%) were adults, and there was no outbreak among school children with no deaths or disabilities. After the CDC declared measles “eliminated” in 2000, many cases have continued to surface (644 in 2013, likely most due to an increase in measles vaccinations). 30% of the measles cases in 2014 were in vaccinated kids. Out of 8,200 pediatric pertussis cases with vaccination records reported in California in 2014, 90 percent had been vaccinated.

Even the highly prejudiced CDC admits that, as of April 25, 2014, over the last ten-plus years there have been no measles deaths reported in the U.S., but there have been 108 deaths from the measles vaccine as well as nearly 2,000 persons disabled. Much more information and data on the (immediately) contagious nature of vaccines can be found at http://www.NVIC.org.

The idea of creating an artificial “herd immunity” due to vaccinating a high enough percentage of the population (say, 95% or more) is not supported by any actual scientific studies in any scientific journals. The CDC itself states that 5 to 15% (probably more) of vaccines do not work , since that percentage of persons vaccinated do not “seroconvert” (the point where the amount of antibody in the blood exceeds the amount of the injected antigen and becomes detectable). If so, the goal of achieving a 95% or more “herd immunity” is mathematically impossible with vaccines. It also explains how supposedly protected vaccinated kids can be infected by unvaccinated kids (and, especially, vice versa).

When vaccines do work, the kind of protection they offer is weak and limited, being based on an induced temporary increase in blood antibodies rather than the more permanent and effective cellular immunity (so-called “killer cells”). In any case, such vaccine protection only lasts a few years (2 to 5 years usually). For example, susceptibility to pertussis (whooping cough) 2 to 5 years after full vaccination is around 95%!. Vaccines cannot compete with the lifetime immunity a child obtains by contracting the “wild,” natural source of the disease.

Although unknown to most people, much of the harm caused by vaccines is likely due to the unsavory stew of toxic and unpleasant ingredients that go into them, including various toxic preservatives (e.g., benzothonium, phenol, and thimerosal that, when still used, is 50% mercury), stabilizers (animal or human bodily serums), “growth mediums” made from parts of live-aborted and dissected human fetuses (often in China) or various animal organs, toxic antibiotics, poisonous “inactivating chemicals,” formaldehyde, aluminum, various “trace amounts” of mercury that are all injected at 100s or 1000s of times the concentration supposed to be safe for drinking water, and various other buffers, emulsifiers, etc. often made from possibly allergy-causing peanuts, eggs, ammonium sulfate, sodium borate, polysorbate 80, etc. All of these are injected directly into the blood so they by-pass the body’s normal avoidance and protection responses to such foreign substances.

But none of this (and much more) information favors the interests of the $100 billion + vaccines industry and those who rely on its generous funding to promote vaccination or pursue their own medical-related incomes. These pharmaceutical corporations also have up to 300 new vaccines in development that they undoubtedly hope to add to the already required 69 vaccination shots per child (49 by age 6) –by far the largest number required anywhere in the world. One must just follow the money.

Yet over the last 25-30 years when the number of required vaccinations for once-common childhood illnesses has mushroomed to 3 times as many, cases of childhood asthma, ADHD, and autism have skyrocketed to epidemic proportions. Now the U.S. has the worst childhood health of any “developed” country.

Don2 years ago2 years ago

Is hysteria, referred to as Conversion Disorder in psychiatry, caused by vaccines, too? In my opinion hyperbole is more toxic and dangerous to the collective consciousness than injected mercury. We used to play with it as kids - mercury, that is. My father suffered his whole life before ADHD was diagnosed and my son also has ADHD, coincidentally. That must be the vaccines my son received - vaccines my father never had. Oh … Read More

Is hysteria, referred to as Conversion Disorder in psychiatry, caused by vaccines, too? In my opinion hyperbole is more toxic and dangerous to the collective consciousness than injected mercury. We used to play with it as kids – mercury, that is. My father suffered his whole life before ADHD was diagnosed and my son also has ADHD, coincidentally. That must be the vaccines my son received – vaccines my father never had. Oh yea! I’ll chalk up my son’s obsession with marine life to toxic vaccinations as well. Mercury I suppose. Oh, and not to forget, my mother cheated death from whopping cough during the depression so I could live to write this. But it could have easily gone the other way in which case my comment would look like this blank part below:

…

This topic really brings out the conspiracy cooks.

Melissa2 years ago2 years ago

If this bill passes I will most definitely be homeschooling my 3 children.

Gary Ravani2 years ago2 years ago

From reading the opposition posts re the wholly scientifically supported practice of having students vaccinated, I am now even more convinced vaccination is the only way to go. For those of you claiming to be home schooling your kids, that may be of some satisfaction to you, but it it the best thing for the child? Just asking'
As a parent you have a "right" (to a certain agree) to put your own kids at risk. … Read More

From reading the opposition posts re the wholly scientifically supported practice of having students vaccinated, I am now even more convinced vaccination is the only way to go. For those of you claiming to be home schooling your kids, that may be of some satisfaction to you, but it it the best thing for the child? Just asking’

As a parent you have a “right” (to a certain agree) to put your own kids at risk. You do not have the right to put others (and the majority at that ) at risk.

Adilia Bridges2 years ago2 years ago

The fact the schools used head PTA ppl to use it's clout to push and urged for this to all other PTA members without notifying parents is underhanded. This parent accidentally got a post from a vice pres of PTA in the OC ( again by accident ) using her clout to urge all the others to call every senator and urge this as all parents in the OC ... Given them phone #s to … Read More

The fact the schools used head PTA ppl to use it’s clout to push and urged for this to all other PTA members without notifying parents is underhanded. This parent accidentally got a post from a vice pres of PTA in the OC ( again by accident ) using her clout to urge all the others to call every senator and urge this as all parents in the OC … Given them phone #s to call even… Except a huge majority of the OC are special needs and we special-needs don’t believe in discrimination for we get discriminated automatically just for being special needs… And she knows this, she was family before….. When I Confronted your head PTA she refused to tell me and said I wouldn’t understand because I believe in America and that we are still free so telling big gov to have control over our own personal bodies in forced medical procedures is unconstitutional no matter how you believe. and PTA used dirty tactics to push their way without notifying the public thru it’s reps as per PTA rules- you are to notify all Public thru your reps and your reps kept ppl out rid the loop unless it’s there way…. and you need state special permission to take a stand politically I read your PTA school rules. And school personnel was breaking them to push for this with out proper notification to the public. there are still a lot of people who have no idea this bill is even happening…. Wrong wrong wrong

Theresa Born2 years ago2 years ago

Thursday afternoon I requested and received my children's Cumulative Education Files. I have 3 children, 2 of whom receive special education services. Because of SB277, they will be returning to home school, which is easier than many assume. I've done it before, and am willing to do it again. Without charter school, programs, or support. Because frankly, if the state won't protect my children's right to an education in the least restrictive environment, then I … Read More

Thursday afternoon I requested and received my children’s Cumulative Education Files. I have 3 children, 2 of whom receive special education services. Because of SB277, they will be returning to home school, which is easier than many assume. I’ve done it before, and am willing to do it again. Without charter school, programs, or support. Because frankly, if the state won’t protect my children’s right to an education in the least restrictive environment, then I don’t want that state guiding their education.

Chloe2 years ago2 years ago

If they have IEP’s they can do their special ed programs as they are exempt from the requirement.
That said, you have quite a good point there….

Gina Hadley2 years ago2 years ago

I will be homeschooling along with several other parents I know.

Lindsay2 years ago2 years ago

Its true that If this passes into law, I will stay home and pull my three children out of the public school system. This bill oversteps. There are so many parents already on the verge of homeschooling and this easily puts them over the edge. This bill is about money, it wouldn't even effect the health of our children in schools as we cannot vaccinate against diseases most commonly spread at schools. Its all about … Read More

Its true that If this passes into law, I will stay home and pull my three children out of the public school system. This bill oversteps. There are so many parents already on the verge of homeschooling and this easily puts them over the edge. This bill is about money, it wouldn’t even effect the health of our children in schools as we cannot vaccinate against diseases most commonly spread at schools. Its all about big pharma, lobbyists and legislators getting paid. Don’t be fooled otherwise. And…I am NOT ANTI VACCINES!

Nicole Dorfman2 years ago2 years ago

My children will definitely leave the public school system and I will be homeschooling. The state has completely over-stepped its bounds. We will not comply with this bullying tactic.

Kristy2 years ago2 years ago

I absolutely will be homeschooling if this bill passes. This will require me to quit my job and pull my toddler from daycare as well. The financial implications of this bill are far reaching and grossly underestimated.

Sherry2 years ago2 years ago

The families who use PBEs do so for good reason and will most definitely pull their kids from school or move out of state. It’s unfortunate you are just looking at this now, as California is looking at the loss of over 200k students when the grandfathering clause runs out. And that is a conservative estimate.

Somer G2 years ago2 years ago

We will be homeschooling our three boys. No way you will force me to line them up and pump them full of toxins just so they can go into an overcrowded school system!

Nichole2 years ago2 years ago

Where there is a risk there much be a choice. I will not put my 2 boys in public school if this passes. No one will force me to put unwanted chemicals in my children’s bodies

David Adams2 years ago2 years ago

I can't believe that the California public and private educational communities (including the teachers unions) have so far been so oblivious and uninvolved in the discussions about SB277 (and SB792, which mandates the adult vaccination schedule with no exemptions for all daycare/childcare employees, as a first step toward eventually mandating them for all teachers, if not all adults), since they will affect the schools more than any other sector. Both the financial and legal burdens … Read More

I can’t believe that the California public and private educational communities (including the teachers unions) have so far been so oblivious and uninvolved in the discussions about SB277 (and SB792, which mandates the adult vaccination schedule with no exemptions for all daycare/childcare employees, as a first step toward eventually mandating them for all teachers, if not all adults), since they will affect the schools more than any other sector. Both the financial and legal burdens of this radical, discriminatory legislation will fall on the school districts and their employees if this bill passes.

One extremely conservative estimate, using the current partial figures for children with personal belief exemptions for one or more vaccines, figures that 24, 741 kindergartners and 7th graders would be excluded from public schools for a total annual ADA revenue loss of $239,171,247 to the public school system (actually likely to be 4-6 times that high for all grades combined). That doesn’t include the additional expense and efforts involved in tracking and enforcement by the school system (requiring, for example, documenting that an unvaccinated child catches up all 49 injections within 10 school days) as well as the additional costs of providing legislated independent study for not fully vaccinated students as well as for special education students with an IEP.

Each school district is required by the US Dept. of Education Section 504 of the “Rehabilitation Act of 1973” to provide a “free appropriate public education (FAPE) to each qualified person with a disability — in the “least restricted environment” (LRE). Since many kids will be forced into independent study (which the CDE clearly defines as not suitable for special education populations), if FAPE is not provided by the in-home instructor for any reason, who is liable in a lawsuit?

It is estimated there are between 200,000 and 225,000 not fully vaccinated children in California schools. What happens to these children who cannot be homeschooled? California has approximately 3 million single-parent families, 3 million children speaking a language other than English at home, and 3.8 million parents with only a high school/GED education or less. WIll truancy laws be enforced to the extent that these parents who cannot homeschool are imprisoned, their children taken from them, and then force-vaccinated by the police powers of the state?

There are many more huge problems with the implementation of these bills, which are not likely to result in any real improvement in the incidence of the childhood diseases being vaccinated against — in fact, today there are more cases of illness and death caused by the vaccines themselves (in no way without risk) than by the “natural” childhood diseases. And most cases of the childhood diseases today in the U.S. are, in fact, caused by VACCINATED children, not unvaccinated ones.

Is it worth it to turn California education and the lives of many families upside-down to implement this bill for a non-existent public health crisis? Or to remove one of our individual health freedoms and the principle of personal consent? The huge pharmaceutical companies (“vaccine industry”) that has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on California legislators and lobbyists certainly thinks so, but they are primarily interested in increasing their hundreds of billions of dollars of annual profits (vaccines are their highest profit-margin product due to a federal law protecting them from any liability or lawsuits due to vaccine damages), not our health.

Susan Post2 years ago2 years ago

1. What is the rate of disease instances/illness at these schools with high percentages of unvaccinated children? This would be an interesting statistic in the ‘scientific’ study of the need for herd immumization.

CarolineSF2 years ago2 years ago

There’ve been quite a few pertussis outbreaks at Waldorf schools, in which there’s strong antivax sentiment — just Google pertussis and Waldorf.

June2 years ago2 years ago

I will homeschool or leave the state if this bill passes. My children have been vaccinated on a selective schedule but I don’t plan to vaccinate further after all the info and reaserch I have done with this bill coming into play.

Steph2 years ago2 years ago

I currently homeschool. I can tell you I’ve got friends coming outa the woodwork to ask me how to get started in homeschooling. They are upset, freaking out, and are prepared to move into the world of homeschooling.

Schools are gonna get a wake up call when their districts loose money from all the kids dropping to homeschool.

Joni Martin2 years ago2 years ago

Every educator in an area with higher than average exemption rates should be pressing for the governor to veto this bill. It is going to be an enforcement nightmare, and the language of the bill is unclear in several areas. There's no language about how long a previously unvaccinated child or one with selective or delayed vaccination can be enrolled as conditional entrant (if at all) while going through a catchup schedule that could take … Read More

Every educator in an area with higher than average exemption rates should be pressing for the governor to veto this bill. It is going to be an enforcement nightmare, and the language of the bill is unclear in several areas. There’s no language about how long a previously unvaccinated child or one with selective or delayed vaccination can be enrolled as conditional entrant (if at all) while going through a catchup schedule that could take more than 12 months. The registrars may have to follow up with these students (if they ARE allowed to enroll while catching up) throughout their catchup process. The language about whether “grandfathered” children with a personal belief exemption can keep that exemption if they transfer to a new school (while still within the same “age span”) is unclear. In both cases, it’s in the schools’ best interest to take the most generous interpretation of the bill’s language in order to avoid lawsuits over lack of access to education. There is language that says a child with an IEP must be able to receive services regardless of vaccination status, but the bill’s language doesn’t specify that those services can be offered in a classroom setting, although the schools could justify such an interpretation. If not, providing those services would become even more costly than they already are. The other issue with this part of the bill is that if a child isn’t allowed to enroll in school in the first place, how will they be assessed for an IEP? How will they be observed in a classroom setting to see if they need it?This is another of the flaws and gaps in logic in SB277 that could end up leading to lawsuits against schools. Sadly, in order to get around the Appropriations Committee, the Senate chose to strike language from the bill that would have reimbursed schools for the costs of implementing it. Schools are being left high and dry with this mess. It was nearly blocked in the Assembly – just six votes shy of not passing. If the governor vetoes this, we can ask the legislators to come back with a better bill. School administrators in my area have been aware of and concerned about the potential impacts of this bill for a couple of months as we’ve watched it change as it’s gone through the legislative process. Another potential impact will be the homeschool charter programs with enrichment classes; those often have higher than average exemption rates. It will be a huge loss if those programs fold because of lost funding and declining enrollment. There was another way the legislators could have accomplished the same public health goals. Instead of a statewide elimination of the exemption, they could have gathered data about which vaccinations the children with exemptions do have, gathered updated information about the conditional entrants’ vaccinations (as opposed to the October reports, when some of them haven’t gotten up to date yet), and then they could have targeted “educate and encourage” efforts in those communities where those vaccination rates showed a concerning level of vaccination for a specific disease transmitted in school (as opposed to something like Hepatitis B or Hib, which isn’t even recommended by the CDC for children age 5 and older because the disease is so rare in children over the age of 4.) I urge educators to ask the governor to veto this bill because schools with low exemption rates don’t need it, and schools with higher than average exemption rates could be potentially harmed by it.

Jennifer2 years ago2 years ago

Just because parents aren't calling regarding homeschooling doesn't mean we all aren't going to do it! People have driven and flown in the thousands to the Capitol during these hearings but that isn't being publicized is that? You are absolutely right THOUSANDS of parents are in an uproar over this bill. Some will supposedly be "ok" for a few years in between check points so maybe it won't happen this next year … Read More

Just because parents aren’t calling regarding homeschooling doesn’t mean we all aren’t going to do it! People have driven and flown in the thousands to the Capitol during these hearings but that isn’t being publicized is that? You are absolutely right THOUSANDS of parents are in an uproar over this bill. Some will supposedly be “ok” for a few years in between check points so maybe it won’t happen this next year for those. There are groups that have formed out of this with thousands of members. We haven’t stopped our lives for this for nothing. There is obviously a reason why we have chosen to have PBE’s on file. To think that is a flippant decision is ludicrous. Unfortunately, homeschooling isn’t a viable option for most. Many will have to quit their jobs or not return back to work. You are absolutely right this is going to have a financial impact. Of course it will be a great gain for the pharmaceutical companies. They cannot be sued for a vaccine injury, the govt buys half their product they don’t need to advertise because it’s mandated and not our children will no longer have the fundamental right to education of their choosing, yet children with known transmittable diseases such as Hep B will still enjoy that right without discrimination.

Bronwyn Leslie2 years ago2 years ago

Homeschooling is not difficult, but you need to have the time and desire to do so. I believe that the majority of those families with PBEs currently are not going to vaccinate under duress because they have already considered and made their medical decisions with their doctors. The estimated loss in productivity, state revenue from taxes and additional demand for social services as more parents leave the workforce, and teachers and parents loose job opportunity … Read More

Homeschooling is not difficult, but you need to have the time and desire to do so. I believe that the majority of those families with PBEs currently are not going to vaccinate under duress because they have already considered and made their medical decisions with their doctors. The estimated loss in productivity, state revenue from taxes and additional demand for social services as more parents leave the workforce, and teachers and parents loose job opportunity and advancement is estimated to be several billion.

Lisa Bakshi2 years ago2 years ago

With all do respect Burke, you’re absolutely crazy if you think a mother would choose education over health. These parents WILL NOT vaccinate, regardless of the law.

Fred Jones2 years ago2 years ago

The latest amendments to 277 would exempt county run programs ONLY if there is no classroom instruction as part of the county’s independent study program. So any enrichment, ROP, or similar, in-class programs would be subjected to this extended vacc requirement.

Debbie2 years ago2 years ago

My guess is that a court will determine that this has a disparate impact on illegal alien children and enforcement will stayed.